These Ulta Signs Are A Total Throwback

Ulta Looked So Different In The '90s — & You'll Barely Recognize It

Whether you're a sucker for a new Urban Decay eyeshadow palette or find yourself gravitating to the skin-care selection every time, there's one thing that every loyal Ulta shopper is likely to agree on: Stepping through the beauty megastore's glass doors feels almost like a homecoming, a warm welcome from a familiar friend. The shiny hardwood floors and futuristic-looking shelves leave you with the overall sense that the world is simply a better place when it's cast in shades of orange and pink. (Also, deals. So many deals.)

So it's hard to believe that there was once a time where Ulta didn't look like Ulta as we know it — at all.

But the proof is in these photos, shared to Reddit by user Murrmeow, who provided us with a glimpse of the vestiges of a long-forgotten version of Ulta, and it looks like going back in time. (Or, according to one commenter, a sushi restaurant.) "My local Ulta has been around for ages but nobody has bothered to update its signs!" Murrmeow captioned the photos, which show two different Ulta logos that are much more 1997 than 2017.

Other commenters immediately identified the location as Buckhead Station in Atlanta, GA, where the store opened sometime in the '90s. "I knew right away from the weird Ulta-That-Time-Forgot sign," one person familiar with the area wrote. Considering that the first five Ulta stores launched in the US in 1990, there are bound to be some relics of a simpler time, before roughly 1,000 stores were opened nationwide.

Some things have changed, but others have remained the same... like the chain's unbeatable selection of brands both high-end and drugstore. Never change, Ulta — at least not like that.